During an interview in Spain, Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa questioned the funding of the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), reported the newspaper La Hora. "Do you know who funds Human Rights Watch, is it the Sisters of Charity, the Sinaloa Cartel?" Correa said to the Spanish journalist who was interviewing him.
“I deeply regret that the president of Ecuador resorts to this kind of disparagement in trying to damage the credibility of the critical evaluation that we do to his government in regards to freedom of expression,” said the director of HRW, José Miguel Vivanco, according to the Mexican newspaper Vanguardia. In recent weeks, HRW criticized Ecuador for having one of the worst states of freedom of expression in all the region.
President Correa said that his comments had been distorted by the Spanish television, reported the National Radio of Venezuela.
President Correa also again criticized the press, saying “You (the news media) think you are the owners of public opinion, but you are only the owners of published opinion,” the news site Clases de Periodismo reported.
